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Content about Geography

November 10, 2011

A wave of anti-Semitism in Lithuania is seized upon by Israeli commentators to delegitimize Lithuania's vote for Palestine's UNESCO entry. Meanwhile, Israel's own UN ambassador is caught in a photo-op with French ultra-rightist Marine Le Pen...

In the wake of this week's UNESCO vote to admit Palestine as a full member, the legacy of World War II and the Holocaust is once again being used as a political football.

September 19, 2011

The Union of Italian Jewish Communities held an unprecedented conference at the Sicilian city of Siracusa for "Ebrei di Ritorno," or "Returning Jews." The island has a synagogue again for the first time since the Inquisition.

Last week, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) held an unprecedented conference at the Sicilian city of Siracusa for "Ebrei di Ritorno," or "Returning Jews"—descendants of Jews forcibly converted during the Inquisition who are now seeking a return to Jewish identity and faith.

August 19, 2011

Egypt registered a formal complaint with Israel over the killings of three Egyptian officers at the Sinai border and demanded an investigation—as Israel bombed Gaza for a second day.

Egypt registered a formal complaint with Israel over the killings of three Egyptian officers at the Sinai border and demanded an immediate investigation on Aug. 19, one day after militants carried out deadly attacks near Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat.

August 19, 2011

Israel carried out air-strikes across the Gaza Strip in response to the militant attack on Eliat—and admonished Egypt for allowing the militants to infiltrate from its territory. The US has meanwhile postponed planed military drills with Egypt.

Israeli air-strikes across the Gaza Strip on Aug. 18 killed at least seven—including Popular Resistance Committees official Khaled Shaath, but also his two-year-old son and a 13-year-old Palestinian boy. The air raids came after coordinated militant attacks left seven Israelis dead—six civilians and one soldier—near the Red Sea tourist town of Eilat.

July 30, 2011

The latest round of UN-brokered Western Sahara negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front ended without agreement—as Rabat signed contracts with foreign oil companies to explore in the occupied territory.

The latest round of unofficial UN-brokered Western Sahara negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front ended without agreement last week, the Pentagon Africa Command's Magharebia news site reports

July 28, 2011

Egypt's Gama’a Islamia has re-emerged with a threat to clear Cario's Tahrir Square of "liberals and traitors" ahead of this Friday's protest mobilization. The threat comes on the heels of violent clashes between protesters and regime elements.

Forebodings are in the air about tomorrow's Friday demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square following two violent clashes between protesters and regime elements in Egypt over the past days. On June 23, knife-wielding thugs—apparently supporters of the ruling military council—set on thousands of activists determined to march on the defense ministry.

July 16, 2011

Jews and Palestinians march hand-in-hand from West Jerusalem to East Jerusalem to show support for the upcoming declaration of independnce in September.

The movement Sheikh Jarah Solidarity organized a high-profile march in Jerusalem to demand an independent Palestine in the 1967 borders.

July 6, 2011

Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the US has made contact with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood—just as the organization has broken ranks with the protesters.

On July 4, clashes again broke out between protesters and security forces in Cairo after a court released on bail seven police officers accused of killing 17 protesters in Suez during the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. After an initial outburst of violence at the Cairo courthouse, protesters blocked the highway linking the Egyptian capital to the city of Suez.

July 1, 2011

The Audacity of Hope, US-registered lead ship in the Gaza aid flotilla, was stopped by the Greek Coast Guard just some 20 minutes outside the port of Perama. Athens says all ships bound for Gaza will be prohibited from leaving Greek ports.

The Audacity of Hope, US-registered lead ship in the latest Gaza aid flotilla, was stopped by the Greek Coast Guard just some 20 minutes outside the port of Perama on July 1. Dimitris Delavekouras, a spokesman for the Greek Foreign Ministry, confirmed that the vessel had been detained. Athens warned that all ships bound for Gaza will be prohibited from leaving Greek ports.

June 24, 2011

A new Israeli proposal that would forcibly transfer more than 40,000 Bedouin citizens into government-planned townships in the Negev desert has raised the ire of Bedouin communities and their supporters, Electronic Intifada reports.

A new Israeli proposal that would forcibly transfer more than 40,000 Bedouin citizens into government-planned townships in the Negev (Naqab) desert has raised the ire of Bedouin communities and their supporters, who say the plan is both discriminatory and ignores the Bedouins' historic connect

June 17, 2011

Egypt's Bedouin, who say they are treated as second class citizens in their Sinai desert homeland, are starting to organize for equal rights. They have long been stigmatized as having collaborated with the Israeli occupation in 1967.

Moussa Al Dalah, a 35-year-old tribal leader from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, knew it would be a risky step to try and take his employer to court over alleged discrimination: He could easily end up in prison. "I had to tell the employer that the Bedouins won't be able to accept humiliation forever," Al Dalah told IRIN.

June 9, 2011

Following recent charges that Israeli spook firms are recruiting mercenaries for Qaddafi come claims that the CIA is recruiting mercenaries for the Libyan rebels. 

June 7, 2011

The mosque in the village of Maghayer near Ramallah suffered damage and threatening graffiti in a pre-dawn vandal attack—with scrawled slogans calling it a "price tag" by Israeli settlers.

June 4, 2011

The Abu Alkiyan Bedouin clan pledge to resist their forcible relocation to make way for a new Jewish town outside Beersheba. Israel says the clan is illegally squatting state lands—although it was transferred there in 1956 by military order.

The land of one of the Bedouin communities slated to be evicted under a proposed Israeli government plan will be used for construction of a new Jewish community, according to documents obtained by 

May 28, 2011

Israeli army troops shut down Friday anti-wall protests in villages across the West Bank, announcing that the unarmed weekly demonstrations have been declared illegal under new special "closed military zones."

Israeli military forces shut down Friday anti-wall protests in villages across the West Bank on May 27, saying the unarmed weekly demonstrations in Palestinian villages have been declared illegal.

May 18, 2011

WikiLeaks cables reveal embarrassing details of an Israeli military contractor's secret operations in Latin America—sparking a government "hate campaign" against journalists who reported the shenanigans in Panama.

February 15, 2011

Initial media reports that protesters had burned down an ancient synagogue in the Tunisian city of Gabes were later refuted, with accusations of provocation by ex-regime members.

Initial media reports that protesters had burned down an ancient synagogue in the Tunisian city of Gabes were later refuted, with accusations of provocation by ex-regime members.

Reuters, AFP and other wire services reported Feb. 1 that a synagogue was set aflame by arsonists in the Tunisian city of Gabes overnight, in a wave of nocturnal violence that also affected the capital. "I condemn this action and I believe those who did it want to create divisions between Jews and Muslims in Tunisia who have lived for decades in peace," said local Jewish community leader Peres Trabelsi. "What especially shocked me was the fact that there was a police force not far from the synagogue when it was attacked," he added. However, later the same day, AFP retracted the story, saying without elaboration that their sources had withdrawn the accusation.